Of all the forms of sustainable power generation, wave power is probably the most neglected. That may soon change, however, as an energy producing buoy off the coast of Hawaii is now being used to provide power to a Marine Corps Base.

Dubbed the PowerBuoy, and created by Ocean Power Technologies, the device is able to gather power from the movement of the waves around it. The company claims that it's "smart," meaning it can adjust itself to best compensate for changing wave conditions. The PowerBuoy in Hawaii is the first ever wave power device to provide energy for a US electrical grid.

It may be the first, but it clearly won't be the last as OPT already has plans to install a much larger wave farm instillation off the coast of Oregon that is expected to power hundreds of homes starting in 2012.